In un precedente post mi è capitato di menzionare l'Anno Polare Internazionale. Quello attuale, il 2007-08, è il quarto. Per la precisione il quarto anno polare internazionale è il biennio compreso tra Marzo 2007 e Marzo 2009 (i tre precedenti sono stati il 1882-1883, il 1932-1933 e il 1957-1958).
Si tratta di un progetto scientifico vasto e ambizioso (a sua volta composto da circa 200 singoli progetti) coordinato e organizzato da ICSU (International Council for Science) e WMO (World Meteorological Organization).
Gli scienziati coinvolti sono alcune migliaia e provengono da circa 60 Paesi (tra i quali la cosiddetta Italia).
In questa occasione voglio segnalare il bellissimo sito web che ne descrive l'intero programma: www.ipy.org.
Per una decina di minuti vale la pena abbandonare le amenità, le sceneggiate e le menzogne della politica nostrana per una navigazione ipertestuale consapevole alla scoperta di cosa si sta facendo di veramente importante nelle due zone artiche, almeno prima che qualche novello Bush o Putin (o qualcun altro con gli occhi a mandorla) deciderà di portarci gigantesche trivelle alla ricerca di nuovo petrolio.
Moltissimi i documenti scaricabili.
Riporto un estratto delle priorità del progetto:
Changing Snow and Ice:
IPY occurs amidst abundant evidence of changes in snow and ice: reductions in extent and mass of glaciers and ice sheets, reductions in area, timing, and duration of snow cover, and reductions in extent and thickness of sea ice. Changes in snow cover and sea ice have immediate local consequences for terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Permafrost, an additional form of ice that influences nearly 25% of the northern hemisphere landmass, also shows substantial decomposition due to warming climate. Permafrost degradation affects local ecology and hydrology as well as coastal and soil stability.
Global Linkages:
Changes in the large ice sheets will impact global sea level, affecting coastal cities and low-lying areas. Changes in snowfall and shrinkage of glaciers will influence millions of people whose daily use of water for personal consumption or for agriculture depends on snowpack and glacial sources. Thermal degradation of permafrost will mobilize vast reserves of frozen carbon, some of which, as methane, will increase the global greenhouse effect. Changes in sea ice combined with enhanced river inputs of freshwater will lead to substantial changes in ocean circulation. Warming of polar oceans, coupled with changes in ice coverage and river run-off, will alter marine ecosystems with consequences for globally-significant fisheries.
Neighbours in the North:
Polar changes occur not on a remote planet, but in the daily living environment of more than 4 million people, fellow citizens and neighbours of this planet. Northern communities face changes in their natural environment and in their natural resources and food systems, changes of rapidity and magnitude beyond recent experience or traditional knowledge. Northern people also face unique health challenges related in part to pollutants transported to polar regions, and accelerating pressures of development and commercialism.
Discovery:
For a majority of participants, IPY stimulates a sense of urgency and discovery. What secrets, what clues to the planet's past, lie under the ice? How does life survive extreme cold and long dark? What structural and physiological adaptations evolved in cold waters and propagated throughout the oceans? What marvels of photochemistry occur when spring's first light strikes winter snow? How do microbial communities in the upper ocean influence cloudiness in the atmosphere above? What subtle richness of behaviour, language and knowledge has allowed human communities to survive in the Arctic for thousands of years? Can ancient solid silent ice hold so much history and yet change so fast? IPY represents a unique opportunity to push collectively at these intellectual frontiers, to explore unseen places, to develop new concepts and theories, and to set the stage for predictions, assessments, recommendations, and future discovery through international collaboration and partnership.
Recentemente, il climatologo Luca Mercalli (presidente della Società Meteorologica Italiana) ha citato una frase di Pascal quanto mai attuale: "corriamo bendati verso il precipizio".
